Seen the Unseen
by Vampyre Heartbreak
Summary: -ItaSaku- She saved his life on a whim, and now he owes her a serious debt. -Follows Manga-
1. An Eye for an Eye

Disclaimer: I lay no claim to the anime Naruto, which belongs to Kishimoto Masashi. I am merely using it for my own twisted gain.

This has been beta'd by my ever amazing beta, _IDontNeedToReply. _

Check the end of this chapter to read my Author's Note. It's rather important.

* * *

Sandaled feet kicked off of the branch easily, ducking and weaving through the dense forest with well-used skill. Within moments, the figure paused on the edge of the forest, lightly resting a hand against the thick trunk of a tree while hidden eyes scanned the bare ground before it. The ground was scorched black, almost as if a fire had erupted over it, with several dislodged boulders and just plain incinerated monoliths everywhere. _What the hell?_ The masked person thought bewilderedly, before jumping to the ground on silent feet. After doing a quick scan to make sure the area was clear, the ANBU stepped forward lightly, edgily, quickly crossing the scorched ground.

Halfway through it, the person stiffened, freezing as the barest hint of chakra brushed against her keen senses. Almost immediately, she could tell that the person was incredibly injured, perhaps fatally, though the chakra was unfamiliar to her. Medic instincts kicking in, she followed the trail lightly, immediately appearing on the ruins of what could have once been a building, though it was too difficult to tell anymore. Taking a deep breath, the scent of burning, along with the thick, metallic scent of blood assaulted her sensitive nose. Pausing briefly, hidden eyes scanned the area thoroughly. Half-hidden under the remnants of a wall, a figure in black clothes that glistened dimly with what she instinctively knew was blood lay on his back, obviously unconscious.

"Who are you?" She called out, seriously doubting that he would be able to answer. As expected, the figure didn't so much as flinch at her voice. After scanning once more for both chakra and a physical being and gaining nothing in return, she approached the prone form quickly. With seconds, she stood above the figure. As she had originally suspected, the person was indeed male, with long, black hair that was bound in a loose ponytail at the nape of his neck. He had a lean, but tall frame, and she distantly realized that he was indeed very attractive, even underneath all of the blood. The stress lines that ran parallel to his nose and the obvious marks of exhaustion did nothing to hinder his attractiveness.

She also realized just who this man was.

He was Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's hated _aniki_. Briefly examining her surroundings with a now knowing glance, she now recognized some of the scorch marks as the result of a lightning attack, though the size would have to be tremendous for it to have destroyed the building like this. The ANBU slid her rabbit mask up to the top of her head with a sigh, revealing startlingly verdant eyes set on a pretty face. While logically, she knew that she should just leave the dying man to die; her mind also crisply remembered the oath she took several years ago, swearing never to leave somebody who could be saved to die. "Goddammit." She swore, not for the first time, at the almost ridiculous oath she had been forced to take before she could become a full-fledged medic-nin.

"Screw it." She growled, before crouching next to the almost dead nukenin and sliding her gloved, slender fingers over the inside of his wrist in an effort to find his pulse to make sure he was indeed alive. She waited for a few gut-wrenching moments before she felt the tiniest flutter against her fingers. She smiled victoriously. _Bingo. _Slipping off her gloves, she placed them in her kunai pouch, before leaning back to examine the half-dead man briskly. His left arm was a mass of blue and black bruises, along with several severe burns. His right arm was only a little bit better, with more bleeding, raw burns than his left. There was a deep slash on his right thigh, though she knew that she would be able to heal that with little or no problem. Unless the blade was poisoned.

Sakura frowned slightly at the thought. After comparing her (rather limited) knowledge of Sasuke, she finally deduced that he wasn't the type to use poison to try and kill someone. Even if it was someone that he despised. Nevertheless, she reached over quickly and pressed a lightly glowing hand over the oozing wound. She found no traces of poison anywhere in his bloodstream. "All of you Uchihas are complete idiots, for your so-called genius status." She frowned at the unconscious Uchiha before continuing her physical exam. From what she could tell, Itachi's wounds were nothing too serious, except for a stab wound right below his rib cage that had probably been caused by Sasuke's katana, which she remembered vaguely.

Nevertheless, the stab wound was not fatal by any stretch of the imagination, and neither were any of his other injuries. Something else must have caused his near death. Then she remembered hearing that Uchiha who had the Sharingan preferred to use genjutsu instead of ninjutsu or taijutsu. She considered that for a moment. She had been able to do a fair bit of research on the Sharingan and its techniques in order to come up with a way to reverse Kakashi's blindness, and while she was certain that she didn't even know an eighth of its abilities, she had a fair amount of knowledge on them, and being a genjutsu specialist herself, she decided that it would have been impossible to kill him by means of genjutsu, or even seriously maim him.

Now worried despite herself, Sakura's hand flared with healing green chakra and she delved deep into Itachi's half-destroyed body in search of the answer. Brushing her hand over his chest lightly as she searched, she immediately found her answer. A disease had been slowly weakening the blood vessels in and surrounding Itachi's lungs, heart, and diaphragm, causing the blood vessels to erupt whenever he moved. The blood would then rush into Itachi's lungs, filling the alveoli with blood and causing him to choke on his own blood. The vessels would eventually be healed, but would be more likely to break, which they would, and eventually the walls of the damaged vessels would be tearing every time the Uchiha took a breath. This was currently where the unconscious genius' stage was. If left untreated, the lungs would eventually be overloaded with blood and he would drown to death. Though on some occasions, the disease would spread to other blood vessels, causing them to burst. It was a very messy disease.

It was also not a common disease, and was not transmitted by air, or direct contact. There were only two ways one would be able to contract such a disease; if someone injected them with it, which she immediately dismissed. She may not know Itachi, but any seasoned shinobi was instinctively paranoid whenever approached unexpectedly, and she had to assume that he was the same way. The other way for the disease to be contracted would have been through absorbing an infected person's chakra into their body, which seemed slightly more fitting for Itachi. Luckily, giving chakra to an infected person would not allow her to become infected as well. Only taking chakra.

The disease would have to wait. She did not have the necessary equipment on her in order to be able to rid him of the disease and reverse the damage done to his body.

She focused her attention next on the stab wounds, and set about healing those first, as they took less time than the other external injuries. The wound on his thigh was taken care of easily, though instead of doing a full healing, which could be rather painful at times, she healed it just enough before removing a sterilized needle from her medic-nin pouch. After a brisk mental debate, she decided to go with chakra thread instead of an actual one. While chakra threads did indeed deplete her own chakra supply, they were sturdier and harder to break than normal thread. And there was the added bonus that after the wound was healed, the chakra would absorb itself into the patient's body, which meant little clean up.

She quickly spun the thread, before looping it expertly through the tiny hole at the head of the needle. Using one hand, she pressed the edges of the skin and wiped away the little amount of blood that had oozed out of the puckered wound. She had already staunched the bleeding by replicating white blood cells, and with her other hand, she began to stitch the two edges of his skin together in tight, deft strokes. More than once, Itachi had unconsciously tried to flinch away with the slight pain caused by the needle, and she felt rather satisfied by this fact.

It meant that he wasn't gone far enough to not react to outside stimuli.

After she finished stitching the deep wound, she allowed the remaining chakra that was floating in a thin green line between her fingers to dissipate back into her body, before placing the used needle into a tiny, individual pouch that would later be destroyed. After checking his heart rate once more, she found that it was still rather slow and irregular, and almost immediately injected his body with a small amount of her chakra, stimulating the heart into pumping faster.

With seconds, the color was beginning to return to his face and his heart rate was more normal. She focused her attention on the stab wound that had managed to nick his diaphragm. As much as she didn't want to do it, she would have to heal the wound entirely, as she had discovered that it extended from his back to his front, and stitching both sides would not be wise. A full healing of an injury was not recommended, as it could be rather taxing on the healer, and would cause the patient stiffness, cramps, and slight pain. With a soft sigh, Sakura leaned over the prone form of Itachi, and placed a hand firmly on his chest. The wound was too deep for her to be able to prompt the surrounding blood and skin cells to multiply, and instead she had delved into the delicate structure of his ribs and forced the marrow to begin regenerating more blood cells, before allowing the various skin layers to regenerate over the new tissue.

The entire process was more time-consuming, and even more taxing on her than a normal healing. Finding that he had several broken ribs, she healed those to a minor fracture before shredding the bloodstained, black shirt the Uchiha was wearing, and the thin mesh underneath that. Removing a roll of bandages from her medic pack, she quickly bound his chest with the bandages before tying them firmly. She also proceeded to wrap the stitched wound on his thigh in the bandages, in an effort to make sure he wouldn't strain the stitches, which she then would have to repair. Already beginning to feel a little tired, Sakura leaned back on the balls of her feet to examine her oblivious patient. She knew that she had to take care of the disease that was currently rotting the blood vessels, but she couldn't do it in her current location.  
_  
Where to take him…_She mused to herself mentally. She couldn't take him to Konoha, where the best supplies were located: he _was _still a S-class nukenin, and bringing back the half-healed Uchiha would prove that she had helped him, which was a treasonous act, and they would both wind up dead because of it. The same would go with any of the other Satos, and she scowled slightly at the thought. She seriously doubted that civilian hospitals would have what she needed, and so they were also out of the question. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her, and intense verdant eyes brightened slightly.

She knew for a fact that ANBU hideouts, which were typically small nooks tucked inside large oak trees and cloaked by genjutsus, and layered with various kinds of booby traps, would have what she needed. She herself had helped with creating them, as her idea had been that ANBU members, which statistically speaking, were injured way more than any of the other ranks, would know where an ANBU hideout was and would be able to go there to rest and regroup. Now there were several hundred scattered through the Fire Country. She also knew that one was located only a few kilometers away from where she currently was. Perfect.

The young Haruno started to hum absently under her breath as she packed up her medical supplies and stowed them away carefully, before channeling a small amount of chakra to her arms and proceeding to lift the elder Uchiha easily, as if he weighed no more than a feather, despite his gaunt frame. After taking a sharp glance towards the setting sun, and distantly realizing just how long she had already spent on Itachi, as the sun had been high in the sky when she had found him, she correctly determined just which direction she was facing, before spinning around quickly, gingerly holding the male in her arms, and fled like hell was on her heels in the correct direction of the hideout.

It took a while longer than she thought to arrive at the hideout, due to the fact that she couldn't use chakra to speed herself up along the way. Finally, she paused on a branch lower than where the hideout was and examined her surroundings intently to confirm that she was indeed in the correct place. Seeing that she was, she nimbly leapt up one more level, and immediately felt a sensation like warm water running gently over her as the defenses deactivated, as she deliberately flared her chakra twice in a row. After making sure that all of the defenses were deactivated, she lightly crossed over the branch before entering the small, one-roomed hut.

The hut didn't have a door, and instead had a swinging curtain of cheap plastic beads. Sakura lifted an eyebrow at the gaudy decoration, but left it alone as she scanned the single, medium-sized room. Facing the opposite wall was a small cot with stiff white sheets and a single pillow at the head. There were several shelves stocked with various kinds of medic supplies, including gauze and ointment for burns, along with numerous, thick rolls of bandages, along with a third with some few clothes for both men and women. This particular hideout had a small porch, and she knew why. This part of the forest was flush with various kinds of healing herbs, with several of them especially designed for removing poisons. She had a strong feeling that there were several of said herbs out on the porch in small pots.

Discarding the fact for the moment, she placed her prone patient on the cot, though she didn't put the blanket over him. Itachi had a slight fever, which she could easily bring down. Later. Straightening, she stretched languidly and groaned at the stiffness in her muscles. She studied his patrician features once more, mentally comparing it to the image in the Bingo Book. There was almost no comparison between the two. There was the sharp little blade of a nose, along with the strong jaw, the thin lips, and the twin marks of stress that crossed over his cheekbones. The Itachi in front of her seemed so much more gaunt than the Bingo Book picture, less fed, and like he was barely sleeping. She frowned severely at the thought. She may not know the Uchiha all that well, or particularly like him for that matter, but he was currently her patient, and it just would not do for him to be half-starved.

Making a mental note to start forcing food down the Uchiha's throat as soon as possible, she quickly removed her boots and set aside her mask, out of sight so that when (or if) the Uchiha awoke, he would not be able to see her mask and realize just who she was if they were to meet again. After retrieving several large bowls, Sakura filled them with hot water and placed them on the floor next to Itachi. Then she proceeded to remove extra bandages and ointment for his badly burned arms. After placing those next to the bowls, she slipped a dully-gleaming kunai from her pouch. She examined it keenly, and was satisfied when it nicked her finger. She healed the tiny nick with a flicker of chakra and proceeded to remove the last of the blood from the sharp tip. After placing down the kunai, she hunted up a rag and tossed it into one of the bowls carelessly

Having gathered what she would need, she settled next to the Uchiha. The cot wasn't very high off the ground, which she was thankful for. The actual mattress below a recuperating shinobi made it easier for them to sleep than just a plain futon on the ground. After soaking the rag thoroughly in the scalding water, which Sakura ignored, she wrung it out and then proceeded to gently wash away all of the crusting blood covering his arms. After cleaning off his burned arms, she picked up the kunai and refined her hold on the exceptionally sharp weapon carefully. She had to be extra careful on this next part, as one accidental slip up could cause her to hit an artery, which she doubted the already weakened blood vessels would be able to handle.

She despised healing massive burns, such as the ones on his arms, as it was time-consuming and it was impossible to heal all in one stretch. She first had to remove the layers of dead skin cells to allow the new, unburned skin underneath the ability to breathe. The only thing was that the newly revealed layer would be tender after having been exposed to the sunlight so abruptly, and that would cause significant discomfort to the patient. Therefore, it was common protocol to do only a layer at a time on the burns, depending on the degree of the burn. Then, the healer proceeds to wrap the healing burns in burn ointment, and then wrap them in bandages for roughly twelve hours, and repeat the process until all of the blackened, dead skin cells are gone, leaving behind new, tender skin.

She proceeded to numb the area in an effort to save him as little discomfort as possible, before slowly beginning to slowly and meticulously scrape the scorched skin off of his various burns. The process was time-consuming, and by the time she had scraped off the first layer (most of the burns were third-degree), and then rubbed ointment onto the new skin and bandaged them, she was exhausted despite the small amount of chakra needed for the process. Pushing aside the red-tinted water, along with the bloody rag, she grimaced as she realized that she could no longer put off ridding him of his disease. With that thought in mind, she pulled the closest bowl of now lukewarm water towards her. Some of it splashed over the edges and onto the wooden floor, which she ignored.

Lifting a hand, she altered some of the chakra remaining in her system and then forced it to her fingertips. Within seconds, her fingers were glowing a dull red and with a wan, but triumphant, smile, she lowered the glowing tips into the cooling water. The water heated rapidly, and within seconds it was steaming. She allowed the flow of chakra to her fingers to cease, smirking at the success of the technique. It was something she had invented just a few short months ago. The idea had been to take some of the elemental chakra that all ANBU were supposed to have and then apply it to their fingertips. Her natural element had been water, but with intense training and focus, she had forced her chakra nature to change to include fire as well.

While the flow of chakra was too small to do any real damage to an opponent, the technique was excellent for heating water or, in her case, soothing mild burns or fevers with the water part of her chakra. She allowed herself a deep, calming breath before channeling chakra to her extended appendage once more. This time it was the type of chakra needed to remove poisons from the body. The disease currently inhabiting Itachi's body acted like that of a virus or poison, and her idea was to lure the poison to her, before ensnaring it in a bubble of hot water and removing it from the prone Uchiha's body. After having made sure that the disease was gone from his body, she could create an antidote of sorts for him that would help his damaged veins and arteries to re-strengthen at a faster rate that they would normally, and to change the last remains of the disease into a harmless protein which could be metabolized by his body.

It was a time-exhausting, chakra-depleting process, but it was the best she could come up with on short notice. She swept her hand some inches above the edge of the bowl slowly, and the water conformed in a large, quivering bubble under the careful ministration of her chakra. She lifted her hand carefully before bringing the limb to hover over the prone Uchiha's, and beginning to press the bubble into his ribcage. Itachi's body arched up in an effort to get rid of the uncomfortable sensation racking it, though she was able to pin him down with one hand in order to keep him from hurting himself or her. Sweat beaded on her brow from her concentration, and when she slowly removed her hand from where it was pressed flat against Itachi's chest, the mixed chakra-water bubble went with it. Trapped inside the bubble was a smaller sphere of dark purple, almost black, fluid that was the disease.

Smirking at her success, Sakura moved her hand back over to the empty bowl and released her chakra, allowing the dirtied water to splash back into the bowl. Taking a moment, and having no small sense of relief when she heard Itachi's breathing stabilize to a more steady rhythm, the medic turned to face the disease, a morbid, medic curiosity taking over briefly. The fluid that had inhabited Itachi's body for what appeared to be several months reminded her a lot of oil. It was refusing to blend with the water, and seemed to be swirling within its own tight circle at the center of the bowl. There was a large amount of it, which started her wondering just how much of the virus there was, and if it mutated. Making a mental note to take a few swabs of the fluid when she next had a chance, she pushed away the dirty bowl and replaced it with a new one.

This one had also cooled, and she repeated the same process as before, before forming a bubble of the hot water and continuing the process of removing the disease.

By the time she had finished, she was pale and sweaty, with her breathing harder than it was normally, and her chakra was almost nonexistent. All of the bowls containing water had some form of the disease hovering within them. She shakily got to her feet and proceeded to retrieve a smaller bowl to place the herbs in. She untied her hair, only to lift it up into a neater, tighter ponytail. She crossed the room to go onto the porch, and immediately began plucking some of the herbs that she would need. After deciding that she had enough, she entered the room and sat down next to the unconscious Uchiha, removing the herbs and retrieving a grinding tool from her medic pouch.

It didn't take long for her to find something that worked against the disease, and she wound up injecting it into Itachi intravenously due to the fact it would take less time to activate. She tossed the syringe in with the sewing needle from before and tightly closed the pouch. She quickly cleared away all of the dirty bowls, dumping out the dirtied water over the porch and onto the grass (luckily the disease did no harm to plant life), and tossing the dishes out into a small sink to be washed later. By now, it was all she could do to keep from falling asleep where she stood. She tracked down several blankets and a pillow with fumbling hands, and then proceeded to create a nest on the floor next to her unconscious patient. Within seconds of her head hitting the pillow, she was asleep.

* * *

It was another two days before the Uchiha awoke, and she had been steadily healing his body, though the antidote she had given him seemed to be doing the job. She had briefly debated on beginning on his eyes, which she had discovered were almost blind, but decided against it. His being blind would work in her favor if he suddenly decided to attack her. Now he was almost healed, and she had found no more traces of the disease anywhere in his system, which she had been thankful for. She had worried that it had wound up growing and replicating itself, which it evidently didn't.

Itachi roused slowly on the bed, impulsively groaning as his joints popped and stiff muscles stretched. He sat up slowly, blinking, in an effort to bring the blurry room into focus, which it didn't. Nothing did anymore. He felt better than he had in months; it no longer hurt to breathe, and he took a deep breath to take advantage of this fact. He wasn't in nearly as much pain as he should have been. But on that topic, he shouldn't even be alive at this point. He had always planned to die by his younger brother's hand.

"Be careful. You might be a bit stiff, and I haven't had a chance to heal you all the way yet." An unfamiliar, softly feminine voice broke into the silence, and he stiffened immediately at the unexpected intrusion. He flicked his failing, currently onyx eyes towards the source of the voice, and could barely make out large, apple green eyes set on a lightly tanned, heart-shaped face, with a thick blob of dark brown that he had to assume was her hair, which was probably pulled away from her face in a tight ponytail. There was a circular, bright red object in her hand, and as he watched her lift the object to her mouth and then lower it once more, he realized that it was an apple. She was leaning casually against a wall some feet away, watching him carelessly.

Even with his failing vision, he recognized the form-fitting black outfit she was wearing, though it was currently missing the dark gray vest and arm guards. "You're ANBU." His normally soft, lilting voice was roughened by sleep and disuse. The girl nodded, taking another bite from the apple. Another few seconds, and the fruity smell of the apple hit his nose and his mouth immediately watered as he realized that he couldn't remember the last time he had eaten. As if able to read his thoughts, the female ANBU tossed him a whole apple, and after a moment of inspecting it, he took a hesitant bite.

"Hai, I am. I'm Haruno Sakura of Konoha." The girl introduced blithely.

Haruno Sakura?

The name rang a dim bell. She was his otouto's former teammate, the Sannin Tsunade's apprentice, and had contributed to the death of the former Akasuna no Sasori. It was an impressive resumee for one so young. The only picture he had ever bothered to look at of her had been in a Bingo Book months back, when his eyesight was not quite so bad, and he had seen her with short-cropped pink hair, not long, dark brown hair. He had to assume that she had dyed it for a mission: pink hair was quite noticeable when all one wanted to do was blend in. "How long was I unconscious?"

"It's been two days since I found you. I don't know how long you were there before I stumbled upon your half-dead body." Sakura replied, her voice more serious now.

"You shouldn't have healed me."

She shrugged. "Yeah, I know. I've been told that my compassion will be the death of me." She didn't seem bothered. "I can only assume that Sasuke was the one to kick your ass so thoroughly; he'd probably kill me if he found out that I brought you back from the brink of death. Oh well, its not like I'm planning on seeing him any time soon." She continued with another shrug.

Itachi blinked. "Sasuke is not with Konoha?"

Her confused expression was blurry. "Not that I know of. If he had come back, shishou would have sent me a letter, or Kakashi. I haven't gotten anything, so I can assume he's not there. Should he be?" He elected not to answer, as he contemplated on the news he had just received. He had fully expected Sasuke to fly back to Konoha as if on winged feet after his supposed death. The news that he hadn't was surprising, and more than just a little worrisome. Hopefully, the gift that he had imposed upon Sasuke would assist his brother in returning to Konoha.

"How long will it be until I am fully healed?" Itachi changed the topic abruptly, and she quirked an eyebrow.

"I would suppose one or two more major healings, depending on if I decided to return your sight to you or not." She answered warily. His own dark eyes narrowed.

"The blindness caused by the Mangekyo Sharingan cannot be healed." Itachi informed her, his voice blank and flat without the slightest bit of condescension in it. He was barely able to see her answering smirk.

"It cannot be healed with _normal_ healing techniques." She corrected smugly. "However, I found a way to return your sight to you, and for you to keep it, assuming that you don't continue to use your Sharingan again."

"I don't have the Sharingan anymore." Itachi informed her. She stared at him, her impossibly large verdant eyes widening slightly.

"Um, what? Did you expel it from your DNA or something?" She became sarcastic on the question without actually intending to, though Itachi gave no sign that he caught it.

"No. I transferred my Sharingan, along with all of its techniques, to my otouto." He explained, and she blinked in surprise.

"Oh. Well, then yeah. I'd be able to heal your eyes, no sweat. Unless you're planning on returning to the Akatsuki. I won't return your eyes to you just so you can use them in an effort to capture my best friend." She stiffened, as her bright eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion of him. He shook his head.

"I am not planning on returning to the Akatsuki." He responded.

"Then I suppose I could heal your sight, if you wanted." She offered grudgingly, dusting off her hand after she had finished off her apple. "Though it would take several days, depending on how bad your sight is, and I have to get back to Konoha. I'm already late. And your eyes would have to remain bandaged until I'm able to fully heal them." She explained as she moved quietly to perch at the foot of his bed. He stiffened instinctively as she neared him, though she gave no sign that she noticed or cared. "I've already used this technique to return Hatake Kakashi's eye sight to him, so I know it works, provided that you cooperate with me." She assured him needlessly.

He continued to eye her warily, but not disdainfully. She had to admit that he wasn't being nearly as hostile as she had imagined. He was almost cordial, if brisk and to the point. Due to Naruto's horror stories concerning the elder Uchiha, she'd half-expected him to be a homicidal, rampaging maniac with a taste for drinking blood. He was anything but. He was certainly more amicable than Sasuke ever was, that was for sure. "We can stay here if you like, though I probably do need to start getting back to Konoha soon. Shishou will definitely be wondering where I am." She continued, taking her mind off of her surprise at Itachi's congeniality.

The bandaged Uchiha nodded once. "I'll accompany you until I'm fully healed." He told her in his soft, deliberate voice, and she nodded in agreement. "We'll leave at dark." He continued, glancing briefly out the window. Sakura stiffened at the thought of being ordered around by a nukenin, but put the thought out of her mind as she got to her feet and stretched. She needed to gather her supplies, which had scattered all over the hideouts in the last two days.

"Eat up. It makes it more difficult to heal you if you don't eat." She told him, noticing that he hadn't touched his apple except for the primordial small bite. Itachi watched her for a moment, before nodding solemnly and biting into the apple once more.

* * *

There is no particular reason for me posting this story, other than the fact that ItaSaku is my favorite pairing of all time (I cried when I found out Itachi died, and then again when I had finally been able to scrounge up the courage to read the fight between him and Sasuke.) and I kinda feel like I'm betraying said pairing by working on my SasuSaku fanfiction, Constellations.

**Some Things You Should Know:**

**- **_The storyline for this story will be following the manga closely. So that means that Sasuke has become a bitter and dictator-y and has decided to kill all of Konoha. Though he hasn't decided this yet, and Naruto hasn't left for the sage training. This story will, obviously, take place immediately after the fight.  
_**-** _This applies mostly to this chapter, but most of the medical stuff in here, I pulled out of my ass. I would seriously doubt any of it is realistic, and if it is, whoops. And concerning Itachi's disease: I made that up. I had to take what I saw from the fight, mostly him coughing up blood, and then I kinda went from there. And at one point during the manga, Itachi states that when Madara began to lose his sight, he tried everything he could to stop it. This leads me to believe that he also attempted to use a plain old medic-nin, to no avail. _  
**-** _There will be spoilers, people, and a lot of them. I would suggest that if you haven't read up to about 416, then you make sure you do, or else I'll be giving a lot away.  
_**-**_ Yes, I edited Sakura's age and rank. I edited her age, because even though Japan doesn't have an age limit (I think) it would still freak me out to have a twenty-one year old falling in love with a sixteen year old. And I edited her rank, just because I felt like it. So this means that Sakura is eighteen, while Itachi is twenty-three. Everything in the manga happened, they're just older.  
_**-**_ I'm not planning on writing any lemons for this story. Period.  
- I have my own individual plot for this story planned, even if it follows the manga._

I think that's all. Review, pretty please? -bambi eyes-


	2. Makes The World Go Blind

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I am merely using them for my own twisted enjoyment. And possibly others, as well.

* * *

"Good news is that your eyesight isn't as bad as I'd originally thought."

Sakura told the apathetic Uchiha in front of her, trying desperately to ignore the way that she could feel the heat radiating off of him, as if she were in a freaking sauna. Itachi didn't respond, other than a subtle flickering of his currently closed eyelids. She had quickly learned that there had been no need to worry about the almost mute Uchiha. His reflexes were amazingly fast now that she had removed the disease from his body; so fast that his appendages had a tendency to blur whenever he moved. She had also quickly realized that his stamina was infinitely higher than her's, as they had just finished sprinting across the field for almost twelve hours without a break and she was worn out, while he looked like he had just come off of the freaking runway.

Stupid Uchiha and his stupid pretty Uchiha hair.

"Is there any bad news?" Itachi broke into her musings in his normal, soft voice, and she jumped slightly at the question before mentally berating herself.

"Uh… it'll take a little while longer than I'd originally planned on to fix your eyesight." She blurted out, eager to get her mind off of the Uchiha. "It's not so bad to that I won't be able to repair your vision. It just might be another two healings after this, instead of one, like I'd originally thought." She hurried to explain, drawing her chakra back into herself and leaning back on her feet before stretching.

"Is that all?" There was still that blandness in his voice, though she could have sworn that there had been the faintest undertone of amusement. Instead of saying anything, she merely studied him, watching as his heavily lashed eyes flickered open and stared intently at her. Meeting his dark eyes reminded her all too well of another pair, and she immediately looked away, choosing to instead begin to fiddle around with her backpack.

"What do you mean, 'is that all'?" Sakura called back to him incredulously. "That means your eyes will have to be bandaged for longer."

Itachi shrugged, completely at ease with the problem. "It is a small price to pay for regaining my sight." He returned smoothly, earning an exasperated sigh from the small woman.

"Whatever. Let me know if your eyesight begins to get too bad." She warned him, getting to her feet with the intention of finding something to eat for the both of them. Itachi's almost emaciated frame was still irksome to her, and she was determined for him to at least put on a few pounds before they separated.

"Very well," Itachi agreed easily, though they both knew that he would do no such thing. Sakura eyed him dubiously but didn't say anything. Dusting off her formfitting jumpsuit, the dyed brunette walked over to her medic pouch and removed small packets of herbs from it to add to the stew she had been planning on making. It was easy to do, and this area was flush with small deer and rabbit. Most of the time, anyway. She passed this information on to her patient, and he agreed with a slight nod. Pocketing a few kunai, Sakura disappeared into the dense forest surrounding them.

* * *

When Sakura returned, she was holding a small buck by the antler. "All I could find. It was either this or rabbit, which I happen to hate." She tossed the deer at Itachi's feet, and then blinked blankly at the thing sitting in Itachi's hand. Wordlessly, he tossed it to her and she caught it easily before realizing that it was a small bowl, obviously meant for her to cook dinner in. She merely smiled before beginning to fix the crudely made bowl up and filling it with the water from her canteen. The bowl wasn't perfect; Itachi had obviously known what he was doing as he was making it, but it was plainly done. As the water heated under the small fire, she reached for the deer but paused when she saw Itachi beginning to skin it.

"Stop that. You're injured," She protested, beginning to reach out thoughtlessly for him as she would have with any of her teammates, but caught herself quickly and lowered her hand. Itachi shot her an inscrutable glance out of the corner of his eyes..

"It's hardly difficult work." He merely shrugged slightly, still continuing to skin the dead beast.

"Its still work, and you had the crap kicked out of you a few days ago," she muttered defiantly under her breath, and missed the way Itachi lifted an elegant dark eyebrow at her sentence in vague amusement. "Fine. I'll start on the herbs." She apparently sensed that it would be of no use to argue with him (especially since he was efficient; the deer was almost halfway done already), and she was obviously sulking.

The two worked in comfortable silence, until Itachi silently pushed the skinned carcass towards her. She blinked, and had to smirk wryly when she noticed that he had left the dicing of the meat to her. Wordlessly, she started on the job, working with quick, efficient hands on the bloody, raw meat. The Uchiha leaned back and closed his dark eyes, tilting his head to the now dark sky. Despite his would-be relaxed expression, Sakura could easily see his taut shoulders and his subtle, but obviously tensed, posture. It was clear that he didn't altogether trust her. Not that she could blame him, even if she did save his life and agree to return his sight to him.

Minutes later, she had the meat simmering in the water with the herbs.. It wasn't a gourmet meal, but it would do for now. And the meat had the bonus of being high in protein, which was good for the already very slender Itachi. "Alright, let's get started on those eyes of yours, Itachi-san." She got off of her knees, brushing off her outfit before removing a small roll of bandages from her pack. Itachi shifted his position slightly so it would be easier for her to have access to his badly damaged eyes. Sakura settled down on her knees in front of him, having to lean forward slightly in the process. "Close your eyes." She instructed, and he obeyed silently, knowing that the glance earlier that day had merely been a cursory look to examine the damage, and that Sakrua hadn't actually done any healing.

He automatically stiffened when he felt the calloused pads of her slim fingers brush against his temples, but forced himself to relax slightly, as her now familiar chakra flooded into his optic nerves and soothed the ache that had become more familiar than he would have liked in the last few months. Almost absently, Sakura was mumbling off information, probably for her to remember for a later point in time. "Your condition is slightly different from Kaka-sensei's," she told him blithely, "his blindness was caused by his cones and rods slowly giving out under the stress of his Sharingan, which was never able to be turned off, whether or not he was actually using it."

"And mine?" Itachi inquired softly.

"It's your actual optic nerve cells that are giving. From what I can gather, the large amount of chakra needed to sustain the Mangekyo Sharingan has been steadily weakening the cells, so much that they're now shutting down. With no cells, you'll wind up going blind." She explained distractedly, her attention obviously arrested by his failing vision.

"The cure?" He was curious despite himself now.

"Slowly pumping up the cells with my chakra. Doing so will allow the depleted cells to strengthen, and since you no longer have the Sharingan, your sight should remain. Naturally, I'll have to leave my chakra in the cells to allow them to regain their strength, and soon you'll be able to see." She answered professionally. "Now hush, I need to concentrate." She was so focused on her task that she didn't think twice about ordering around the highly dangerous missing-nin. Itachi obediently did as she bid, and they collapsed back into the ever-present silence.

After several hours of slowly filling each optic cell with her chakra and making sure that the dull ache had vanished at least somewhat, Sakura was highly drained, and after drawing her excess chakra back into herself, she leaned back in mild exhaustion. "All I can do for now. I'll try to finish up tomorrow, as we're almost near Konoha now." She told him, slightly panting as she picked up the bandages by her leg, and without waiting for permission, she began to wind the bandages around his healing eyes. His retinas would be exceptionally sensitive to light while she was still healing, and bandages worked the best at correcting this problem.

_Damn, his hair's nicer than Ino-pig's. _She realized belatedly to herself, smoothing his long, raven-black hair out of the way as she wound the bandages around his skull with expert ease.. Itachi was definitely stiff underneath her fingers, though she couldn't do anything about it. There was no way in hell that she was going to let him do the winding, so he would just have to deal with her closeness for the time-being.

Moments after that, she tore off the last bit of bandages left and tucked the rest into a crease before respectfully moving out of his personal bubble. Out of pure habit, she set up her bedroll before tucking all of her extra items away into its respective niche. Her rabbit mask was still hidden away out of sight, and she had no intention of letting Itachi know what animal her mask had been fashioned after. Ever.

Itachi was mimicking her actions on the other side of the small, smokeless fire that he had created while she had been away hunting. His movements were nothing short of silent, while she, in comparison at least, sounded closer to an elephant tromping through a particularly dense rainforest.

Maybe even a herd of elephants.

"Good night, Itachi." She wished him automatically, barely catching his murmured 'good night' in return as she slipped into her bedroll and twisted around to lie on her stomach, where it would be easy for her to get up and gone if something were to go wrong.

* * *

"Here we are."

Sakura heaved a sigh, as the pair of large, open gates of Konoha were barely visible at the end of the road. They had decided that it would be best for them to separate while still a good ways away from Konohagakure, similar of a departing team. And even then, that had required Sakura to demand that Itachi put on a plain black cloak and a hat over his head to hide his memorable patrician features. Absently, the brunette ran her hand over her hair as she hefted her small satchel higher on her shoulder. She knew that a distinct band of rosy pink was now located along her scalp and that she would have to either continually wash her hair until the dark brown dye washed away or re-dye it.

"Don't forget to keep the bandages on until tomorrow evening, and not a moment too soon, am I understood?" She reminded him patiently, knowing full well that the chances of Itachi keeping the annoying bandages on were almost nothing. It turns out that the elder Uchiha could be quite childish when he wanted to be, as he refused to have anything that itched or irritated his skin on any longer than he absolutely had to.

Itachi inclined his head gracefully, ever so slightly, and she eyed him knowingly, but didn't say anything. "Yeah, okay. Bye." She tossed him a casual wave before turning towards her home.

"Sakura."

It was ridiculous that the way that her name rolled off of his tongue often gave her goose bumps, she mused distantly to herself, though she twisted around to look at him curiously. "Hmm?"

"Stay safe." He ordered her, uncharacteristically harsh, though she didn't take offense. Instead, she just heaved a heavy sigh and looked at him in exasperation. It seemed that all of the males she met took it upon themselves to make sure that she was protected.

Except Sasuke, but she refused to dwell on that matter.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't die, stay safe, whatever. Good_bye, _Itachi." She waved off his command airily, turning back around and beginning to walk down the dusty road at a leisurely pace.

"Farewell." Itachi murmured softly, before spinning on his heel and beginning to walk in the opposite direction at a brisk pace to lessen the risk of being caught or seen.

* * *

Feeling strangely edgy, Sakura quickly decided that she would avoid the busy streets of Konoha, and instead leap over the rooftops. Which she was now doing. There was no doubt in her mind that Tsunade-shishou would grill her once she was successfully in the Hokage's office, and she mentally steeled for the interrogation. She suddenly found herself thankful for the fact that Naruto was still hospitalized (or should have been) due to his extensive injuries from a recent mission. While she loved the rather obnoxious blonde to death, he had a tendency to double team with Tsunade in his fits of worries.

While his worries were needless and extremely overwhelming, she knew that it was just because he was afraid to lose her like he did Sasuke. Which was why she let it go.

Shaken out of her dark thoughts by the arrival of the rounded, prominent architecture of Hokage Tower, Sakura paused on the windowsill of the window to Tsunade's office to peer inside, making sure that the buxomous blonde was indeed alone before solftly tapping on the door with a gloved knuckle. The sake bottle that had been perched on her desk disappeared in a blur as Tsunade turned around to face the window. Seeing that the Sannin's honey brown eyes were focused on her, Sakura waved and then let herself in. "You're becoming more and more like Kakashi every time I see you, Sakura." The long-haired blonde commented, and Sakura merely shrugged, brushing aside the comment.

"About time that pervert gave me something." The dyed brunette retorted, her tone that of forced indifference. Tsunade bit back a sigh, knowing that her apprentice still held a small amount of resentment towards the silver-haired nin for his lack of training for her when she was a Genin before she had gone to Tsunade, and even mostly when she was a Chuunin, before finally dishing out small bits of advice when she was a Jounin.

"Why are you so late, Sakura? You're usually more prompt than this." The lady Hokage changed the topic abruptly, looking at the ponytailed ANBU expectantly.. As was the norm for ANBU, Sakura was expected to give her mission reports verbally, to prevent the written report from falling into the wrong hands and potentially giving away important information to the wrong people.

Sakura flipped her tousled brown ponytail over her shoulder in a way very reminiscent of the Yamanaka heiress. "I wound up being injured on my way back, and I rested for a few days in one of the ANBU hideouts before continuing to make my way home." She lied smoothly, having concocted the idea on her way back with Itachi.

"And are you injured now?" Tsunade's experienced eyes scanned Sakura's lithe frame intently, as if looking for any tears in her formfitting jumpsuit.

Sakura shook her head almost immediately. "Iie."

"Good. And how did the mission itself go?"

Sakura proceeded to tell her legendary teacher all about the actual mission, which had mostly circulated around having to remove a poison from an aging lord's body, create an antidote, and then proceed to make sure that he was on his path back to health before departing. Tsunade couldn't help a few chuckles when the dyed brunette told her about how the lord's son couldn't seem to keep his mitts off of her and her backside, and then again at the following grimace afterwards.

* * *

After successfully giving her mission report (along with a bottle of sake she found) to her mentor, Sakura stepped out of the Hokage Tower, stretching lithely. Now that the adrenaline from spending a large amount of time around a highly dangerous missing-nin had worn off, the brunette realized just how tired she was, judging by the crick in her neck. She looked forward to her bathtub and seeing just how much water her heater held.

"Forehead!" She instinctively turned at the old nickname, and smiled wanly at the approaching blonde, with Chouji munching on his favorite barbeque chips behind her at a more leisurely pace. The young Haruno lifted a hand in greeting as the Yamanaka skidded to a stop. "What took you so long? You totally missed out on our girl's night in!" Ino continued, sounding properly outraged at the idea. Sakura clamped down on the inside of her cheek hard to refrain from sighing and rolling her eyes.

Sakura proceeded to loyally tell her best friend what she had concocted. At the end of it, the still-miffed Ino merely huffed and didn't say anything else, instead fluidly changing the topic. It turned out that Ino and Chouji were on their way to Tsunade's office for a mission, and they couldn't talk long, though Ino did spend a fair amount of time ranting and raving about how Naruto was being an amazingly annoying, whiny patient and she had to fight back the urge to bash his skull in with a food tray every time she was forced to check up on him. Sakura ignored the comment blithely, personally knowing the pains of having the jinchuuriki as a patient.

Bidding her friend and Chouji farewell after brusquely breaking into the long-winded rant, Sakura proceeded on home with the intention of getting in, greeting her cats, finding a book, and then continuing to the tub for an extended, undetermined amount of time.

* * *

Tsunade watched the dyed mahogany brown hair of her apprentice flip out of sight curiously, for once ignoring the sake bottles in front of her as thin, pale blonde eyebrows furrowed slightly in silent bewilderment.

It had been evident from the very beginning that something was off about Sakura, and when the fellow medic had lied to her, the Sannin knew it had to be something big. Sakura had never lied to her about anything during the entire time she had been her apprentice, and for her to lie about something now, it would have to be something huge.

Almost absently, the legendary medic-nin grasped the neck of the sake bottle that Sakura had so thoughtfully purchased for her, and plucked the lid off before lifting it to her lips, her honey brown eyes locked on the spot where her apprentice's long brown ponytail had disappeared, as if expecting her to reappear at any moment. Tsunade sipped at the rice wine slowly, savoring the rich, musky flavor with a soft sigh. It really was good sake, she mused idly to herself, setting the bottle back down. Sakura had even gotten her the expensive stuff, not the cheap stuff, despite her undoubtedly dwindling wallet.

"Tsunade-sama?" Immediately, the Sannin glanced at the long-haired blonde and the hefty Akimichi who stood on the other side of her desk. Ino looked expectant, while Chouji was too busy stuffing his face. After a moment, it clicked. The two had a mission, and she had summoned them. Making a mental note to watch her other apprentice carefully, the buxomous blonde retrieved a tightly wrapped scroll and passed it to Chouji, who was closest to her, and proceeded to explain the mission to them.

* * *

The Haruno grimaced as she examined a blatantly carnation pink root of her still-wet hair. The broad band of pink at her scalp was a stark contrast to the darker mahogany surrounding it. Wondering idly if she could borrow something from Ino at some point that would help remove the dye from her hair, Sakura padded out of her steamed bathroom, stepping over her two cats easily as they attempted to wind around her ankles as they meowed plaintively for her attention. Continuing to dry her hair with a towel she had tossed over her shoulder with one hand, Sakura headed into her kitchen with the intention of getting some junk food and bumming out on the couch for the rest of the night.

She paused breifly when she entered her small kitchen, her apple green eyes alighting immediately on the innocent looking box propped up on the counter, and realized that she hadn't left it there and it wasn't even her's. The box was on the smallish side, and she belatedly noticed the small note stuck to it, though she was too far away to read the scribbles written on it, and the box had obviously been knocked over at one point, probably by her cats. Assuming that it wasn't a bomb, as her cats were still in one piece and breathing, Sakura approached the box slowly and plucked the note off of it. Almost immediately, she recognized Ino's writing and relaxed completely as she briskly scanned the note, and she ignored the meowing cats as they continued to wind around her feet.

_Hey Billboard Brow,_

_I bought this for you earlier today. It's supposed to help remove dye from your hair without ruining your hair in the process. _

_No idea if it works or not. _

_Anyways, best of luck getting your hair back to that normal, bizarre hair color that you seem to have an almost unholy fetish with proving the organic-ness of. (Oh wait, that's Kiba. Nevermind.)_

_- Ino_

Chuckling to herself at the classic Ino note, Sakura lifted the box and looked it over before popping it open and peering inside curiously. It looked normal, and, satisfied, she put it back on the counter before deciding that she would do it at a later point. Effectively retrieving her ice cream and some left-over dango that was still good, Sakura wandered back to her living room and curled up in a blanket with a book and two purring cats.

* * *

The elder Uchiha crouched easily on the thin branch in the dense forest currently surrounding him, his pitch-black eyes focused on the small group of missing-nin below him. He refrained from snorting. The idiots still had no idea that he had been tailing them for hours, and had been steadily hacking down their numbers whenever one of them wandered off. In little over an hour, he had successfully killed off three of them and disposed of the bodies suitably. In that same time slot, he had also been looking for any weaknesses in their defense, and had quickly found several that he could easily use to his advantage. They were almost not worth his time, but they needed to be dealt with.

After he had departed from the medic, he had realized just how much free time he would now have on his hands. Now that he no longer belonged to any village, nor to Akatsuki, he was no longer required to fulfill a sufficient amount of missions each month and that meant much more free time, which had bewildered him for a moment. For most of his life, he had always had to do something. Eventually he had decided that he would spend that time eliminating potential threats to Konoha. This was what he was currently doing.

He had also discovered more about his brother in the process and what had happened to him after Itachi's supposed death. Apparently, Madara had tracked Sasuke down and whisked him away to an undisclosed location. Nothing had been heard of him since, and that made Itachi worried. Madara could be one sneaky bastard when he wanted to be.

Silently, Itachi shifted his posture from casual to that of a tensed, offensive one before launching at the group in a blindingly fast movement.

The entire group was taken care of within a matter of minutes, and Itachi stood up and stretched his stiff shoulders leisurely. He eyed the corpses at his feet before simply deciding that a fire would be the best way to remove the cadavers. It didn't take long for him to clear out the brush surrounding them, and after taking a step back to prevent any backlash and making sure he was upwind, his hands flicked into familiar seals with well-oiled ease.

"Goukakyuu no jutsu!"

Red-hot flames poured out of his mouth and smothered the corpses in a heated bath. Within seconds, thick black smoke began curling upwards and the overwhelming, nauseating stench of burning flesh filled the air. This Itachi ignored as he turned to leave, only to have to dodge a kunai. With a low oath, he realized that he had missed one. This one, a burly, tall man, was obviously more skilled than the others and smarter, too, for that matter. He was swift on his feet; that much was clear, even if his strength waned drastically in comparison to Itachi's.

Itachi swerved sharply from another slash at his midriff, before lashing out with a punishing kick to the man's unprotected back. He grimaced openly. Ever since he had forfeited his Sharingan to Sasuke, he no longer had access to the jutsus he had copied over the years and the genjutsu that was associated with the Sharingan. It was… irksome to deal with things physically instead of immobilizing them in Tsukuyomi and then driving them insane by three days of endless torture before easily disposing of them.

A drive towards the man's wrist forced him to release the sharp kunai, and the Uchiha plucked it up easily before twisting lithely away from another attack and driving the sharpened tip of the kunai upwards into the man's ribcage. He gave it a sharp twist, and with a loud gasp, the man fell backwards so that he lay flat on his back and Itachi stepped out of the way to avoid the spray of blood. "I-I know you! That face!" The other shinobi garbled, his lungs rapidly filling with blood. Unmoved, Itachi watched him die with indifference, and after making sure he was indeed dead, tossed him carelessly onto the burning pile of corpses.

His expression warped slightly as he recovered his lost weapons and found a few new ones. He despised violence of any sorts, but had long accepted that it was necessary for the life of a shinobi. Finding a half-decent, but dull, katana, Itachi quickly rooted up its sheath and decided that once he sharpened it, it would be a good weapon, and he slid it to hang from his belt. He had a whetstone somewhere in his supplies, and he proceeded to head back to his temporary campsite to recover and sharpen his dulled, recently acquired weapons.

He couldn't stay long, however. Even the thick canopy above couldn't hold back all of the thick, black smoke twisting and writhing its way skywards, and curious shinobi would be by shortly.

Especially since with his relatively close distance to Konohagakure, Leaf-nin would probably be the ones sent out and he was, after all, supposed to be dead. Though, if he lingered around long enough, perhaps he could see the medic again. She had proved to be quite entertaining, despite her obvious wariness of him. Not that he could blame her any. He had also been rather suspicious around her.

At the prospect of seeing the talented medic once more, Itachi's lips curved upwards ever so slightly.

* * *

Is the new layout of the Document Manager annoying the crap out of anyone else? Just wondering.

Wow. I had no idea that so many people would like this story. Not that I'm upset or anything. It makes me ridiculously happy.

And I got a few complaints on the massive detail I put on the healings. No worries. That was strictly a one-time thing. I hate putting too much effort into figuring something out, or how to make something work.

And somebody asked why Itachi would escort Sakura home (I think). My answer is simple: Itachi was probably raised with strict upbringing, and as she did do that whole 'saving-his-life' thing, he probably figured the least he could do was escort her home.

And not much going on this particular chapter, but more shall happen later. Mwuhahaha.

And what an explosive response. If I'd known that ItaSaku was this popular (I'd always figured it was because ItaSaku authors were really freaking good or something), I'd have started this a long time ago.

And the next update is going to be a while. I just moved, and the idiot movers put the computer that I save all of my work on in storage in an undisclosed location. So it may be a while. Luckily, I finished this chapter before we moved and then saved it to my flash drive. lol.

Review?


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